Asian cuisine on a carousel: Shabu Hot Pot opens in south Springfield
A conveyor belt loaded with hot, fresh Asian staples wraps around Springfield’s newest restaurant, Shabu Hot Pot.
Shabu Hot Pot, located at 4560 S. Campbell Ave. Ste. 136, hosted a grand opening Sept. 21, but the restaurant has been more than a year in the making, said General Manager John Ngo. The Ngo family, including Shabu’s owners Kelly and Eric Ngo, have been looking for a unique way to bring Asian food to Springfield.
Shabu’s menu includes hints of many Asian countries, with unique and fun plays that embrace the culture of the whole continent, instead of single countries, Ngo said.
“A lot of people want to integrate us into a specific type of country or culture, but my take — with my family, we want a conglomeration of the Asian culture,” John Ngo said at the restaurant Sept. 25.
“We have influence of the Chinese culture, Thai culture and Vietnamese culture as well.”
Like a luggage carousel, conveyer belt wraps around restaurant
The conveyor belt that wraps around Shabu has intentionally become the highlight and focus of the restaurant. The whole theme of the restaurant is see it, take it, cook it and eat it. Shabu is supposed to be an experience, not just a dinner, Ngo said.
Shabu aims to be “just something fun,” Ngo said. “A good experience for people. Food is not just like eat until you’re full; it’s just to enjoy it (and) have fun with everyone.”
“Whatever you see is whatever you eat.”
There are five main steps to hotpot fun at Shabu. First, customers select a soup base out of five options: Spicy, chicken and herb, beef broth, pork soup or a vegetable-based option. All five soups are influenced by multiple cultures, Ngo said.
“Our beef broth is kind of like Vietnamese pho,” Ngo said. “The spicy has a little bit of Chinese influence (and) a little bit of Thai.”
“We don’t want to wrap it all into one, but more of a conglomeration of Asian culture.”
Next, customers add a protein, with options like chicken, pork belly, rib eye, calamari, beef brisket and more. Then comes the custom sauce station, where a plethora of unique sauces can be combined and added to the soup, or just used to dip the extras.
“Everything is in-house made,” Ngo said. “My parents (Kelly and Eric Ngo) make all the soups. They will stew it all overnight. All the sauces we make in-house, too.”
The last step is the conveyer belt, loaded with tapas of Asian cuisine. The revolving carousel has a variety of side dishes that make a nice addition to the soup. Each table is complete with hot plates, where each customer can cook their meal just as they like.
An adult hot pot dinner costs $29.99, with a lunch special Tuesday through Thursday running $19.99. Shabu Hotpot closes on Mondays, but is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Friday through Saturday from 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
Shabu Hot Pot over a year in the making
The Ngo’s signed a lease on the building about a year ago. The whole space had to be gutted to make room for the main feature: The Asian cuisine train that travels around the restaurant.
Construction took a little over six months, and adding a lengthy permitting process because of the unique conveyer-belt food concept, the restaurant hosted a soft opening Sept. 17-20.
Ngo declined to disclose a total financial investment for Shabu Hot Pot. The company is leasing the building.
The restaurant is located in the Shadowood Shopping Center, southeast of the intersection of James River Expressway and Campbell Avenue. The more than 45,000-square-foot shopping center is owned by Diversity Commercial Investments, LLC, according to Greene County Tax Assessor’s Office records. Shadowood had an appraised value of $3.6 million.
Ngo said the company is always looking at expanding Shabu, or starting a new restaurant concept. The Ngo family aims to bring a new twist on Asian dishes for Springfield.
“We just wanted to give Springfield a new take on the Asian-style cuisine,” Ngo said. “We decided this would be something different.”
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